My Top Ten Favorite Attorneys of Ace Attorney! SPOILER ALERT!!!

Well I am pretty much all done with the Ace Attorney series, the only games I did not play were not localized. Either way in about two or three months with this franchise I completed seven games and that is rare for me now these days. You can say I feel in love with the series quite quickly. I remember playing the first game getting through it all and then I just had to play more! What ended on happening was that my craving for Ace Attorney just kept growing stronger and stronger. I think for that time span I played at least one sitting of Ace Attorney per day. With finally getting done with the main series and one spin-off I think I am ready to be doing a ton of lists based on this franchise. The attorneys are the main image of this game and of course they all have to be colorful characters with charm and personality. Some can be quite evil, some can be quite confusing, and then some will just whip you to you pass out. So, get ready to slam some desks or walls as I will list my favorite of these "Objection" screamers!

10. Gaspen Payne

Starting the list off is a rather odd choice for some. For some context, Gaspen Payne is the younger brother of a previous attorney, pretty much any defense attorney took down, Winston Payne. This brother is treated just like the rest though as he is only suitable for the first case of both games he has been in. Now in Dual Destinies, he was not anything all too special, but I did like how he wanted to save his name from his brother's many defeats. Even though it was cowardly of him to leave the courtroom like a yellow-bellied chicken, it was hilarious to watch that happen. The reason he is on the list though is because of his appearance in Spirit of Justice the recent game. Payne finally found his home in the land of Khura'in where there is no defense attorney to face him because of the Defense Culpability Act. This law holds anyone who defends a criminal with the same punishment, so yea you can see why lawyers would have a hard time in this area. Payne in the short time being in the area even became Chief Prosecutor and who knows how many innocent people he sentenced to jail or even death! Even when Phoenix came to someone's defense, Payne wanted Phoenix's head! I just find it so damn funny that Payne takes his revenge so far that he tried to actually kill Phoenix Wright! I know of some others who will want to do that, but the only reason for Payne is because of his credibility! So yea Gaspen Payne, a scrawny man who wants to praise himself highly, but can just never get a win against our main characters.

9. Athena Cykes

The new blood of Phoenix's crew and she starts off in Dual Destinies as she learned law as soon as she could to get into the courtroom. She did such that at the age of eighteen and Athena is out to save someone! This is already a big character trait for her and her kindness does not stop there. Athena has a special ability where she can hear the inner emotions of people. This helps her out to see if someone is becoming confused with their out of control emotions, or if they are trying to hide something. This then gets into the Mood Matrix ability where she can map out the scene someone is describing and analyze their emotions. It is then someone's job to point out any odd emotional spikes or any object that is causing turmoil in someone's heart. A big reason why she gets on this list is because of what she had to endure in her first appearance at the end of the game. A murder that happened when she was twelve ended up getting someone close to her in jail and a death sentence. Athena takes blames because when she testified as a child she blacked out and causing the truth to be lost. This case gets re-opened though and it slowly starts painting Athena as the killer as it was possible her mentality broke and she was hiding something about the past, but it was more because of the nightmare it caused her over the years. Finally revealing everything though lead to Athena finally breaking those fears and got her back into the fighting spirit as she even took down the man who caused her nightmares. In Spirit of Justice, she is slowly proving herself to be a strong lawyer even if she still needs some help here and there. Also, I feel bad for this gal since she is now Trucy's new assistant and it is never easy to perform magic.

8. Mia Fey

Phoenix Wright's teacher in law is someone you do not want to mess with. During her beginnings as a lawyer, she took down many criminals and even one that almost killed a beloved of hers. She does not back down and I mean that! Mia is part of the Fey family and she is even in the main family and she is a spirit channeler as well. Mia was even supposed to be the one to take charge after the disappearance of her mother. Mia wanted to do her mother justice though and finally reveal what truly happened to her and clear her name of being a fraud. An incident called the DL-6 case really had the police in turmoil so they went to a spirit medium named Misty Fey as she did a summoning for them of the victim to point out the criminal. Sadly, the news got leaked and the it ended up back firing big time. The man who was labeled as a murderer originally got a not guilty verdict, the police took a major blow, Misty Fey was labeled a fraud, and even a lawyer ended up being blackmailed for fifteen years after that incident. Mia kept on looking for any hints and when she got too close, she was murdered by the name who leaked out that information several years ago. This happens at the second episode of the game and it was shocking since one would assume that Mia would be helping Phoenix out some more... well she does. Thanks to her younger sister Maya, she is able to be summoned into Maya's body and help Phoenix out. With this, Mia was able to take down the man who ruined her mother's life and even ended her own life. Mia then continued to help Phoenix with a kidnapping case involving Maya, and even kept taking down her eternal rival. So yea even though Mia passed away, she can still be a tough fighter which is why she makes the list.

7. Simon Blackquill

The prosecutor who was charged with murder even though he was simply covering for someone he cared for. This is the man that Athena wanted to save and even though he was labeled a criminal, he was still able to prosecute thanks to careful eyes from the police. Simon has the powers of suggestion on his side where he can pretty much have people walk around the palm of his hands. He knows how to taunt or even scare someone to telling the truth or simply being quiet. When that fails, he can literally break his cuffs off with brute strength and start using his hidden blade. This man even has a pet hawk named Taka and can have that bird attack people as well! Simon picked up a bit of a mean personality from his time in prison and it even gave him a bit of dark humor. The best thing about Simon though is how determined he was to defend someone he thought was innocent as this man almost was killed for a crime he did not do. Blackquill for the majority of his time as a prisoner was still trying to find any links to what he calls a Phantom, the true culprit behind that murder. Now if you are in his sights though and if Simon catches on who is the real culprit in any case, he will easily attack them like the defense would. So even if the prison life changed him, he is no corrupt prosecutor as his mind is as sharp as his blade.

6. Manfred Von Karma and Kristoph Gavin

You want some crazy perfectionists? Well here you go these two are the living proof of how crazy one can take their own job. First is Manfred who is a prosecutor with the near perfect record, he has never lost a case in his forty-year long career and only received one penalty. Von Karma used any means to get his wins though and as years passed by he only became wiser on how to use people and the evidence. This man even forges his own evidence to get guilty verdicts! Things even get more insane with how far he went he got one penalty. Remember the DL-6 incident I mentioned before? Well here is the real criminal behind all of that! This man performed such a perfect crime that not even the ghost of the deceased pointed the finger at him! The man he murdered was his rival in court, Gregory Edgeworth who is also the man who got Von Karma penalized. Von Karma did not take well to that and so when the chance came to him, he did the dirty deed. Kristoph Gavin is similar to Von Karma with making forgeries and obscuring the truth just for his own sake. The scary thing about Kristoph is that while Von Karma was a prosecutor, this man was a defense attorney. Kristoph only cared about his wins and he truly believes that he uses the law. During one case when he was going to take on his brother in court, he was suddenly dropped from the case because of his client changing to Phoenix. This angered Kristoph that he then used his forged evidence to destroy Phoenix's career and even tried to have his forger killed by the use of poison, it just happened much later than he imagined. Still this man had a perfect crime under his belt and easily used the law at his hand to almost get away with that one crime, but Phoenix made sure to take him down even if he did not have his badge anymore. Thanks to Apollo taking him down for a murder and then taking him down yet again with the use of a jury system. These two characters are also perfect for what the series wanted to represent and that is a surprising bit of satire on Japanese law. Prosecutors would usually win cases most of the time which really reflects Von Karma and then for Kristoph he used the flaws of the system to be the best defense attorney around because of the lack of a jury. These two are just damn good villains with their only ambition is being perfect.

5. Godot

You think you love your cup of Joe, think again! This is Godot also formally known as Diego Armando. Originally a defense attorney who was poisoned and nearly killed turns into a Prosecutor from after waking up from a coma. Many things happened while Diego was in his coma and after waking up he felt he had to see certain things for himself. One was the defense lawyer, Phoenix Wright as he did not like at all. Godot was close to Mia back then and hearing of her death caused him some bitterness towards Phoenix. In reality though he was blaming himself for not being at her side. Even during his coma, Mia took down the one who poisoned him and even got that woman sentenced to death. There was then one big issue with the Fey family though as there was a plan to take out Maya so that another family could become the main family. Godot started to make his counter plan to end it all. This is the reason why he had to change into a prosecutor so that he could take on Phoenix Wright and be close to the police and be able to gather information. What made Godot such a cool guy though is that he always saw both sides. Godot even knew how to help others even if it meant hurting himself. Also, Godot was someone who taught Mia on how to be a lawyer which is soon passed down to Phoenix. His coffee obsession is amazing as well since this guy drinks like seventeen cups of coffee during a trial! I just love seeing this man getting a new cup of coffee all the time. He even throws his mugs around at times and uses them as his own gavels. He is also one strong prosecutor since he knows how to defend so he can counter against many defenses since he probably thought of them as well. Godot is easily the most skilled attorney on this list since again he did both! My favorite part as to go to when he admits to murdering someone and when Maya tells everyone that he was defending her, he had to stop her. Godot admits that he was not sure what went to him first, justice or revenge. Godot is easily one of the manliest guys around and is honest to himself and others... I hope we see him again! Finally, I just got to love a man who has jazz be his theme song!

4. Klaiver Gavin

I feel this character does not get all too much love in the franchise. Some say he is bit too much of a straight arrow and compared to other characters he does lack in the story department. Klavier is the younger brother of the Gavin family and became a prosecutor. He even anticipated the day he would face his brother in court. Klaiver was also part of a band during his youth and then did both at the same time. Later on, though he soon had to disband his group since one of them was a murderer and soon got his just desserts. Here is the thing about Gavin that I truly appreciate about him though, he is probably the most trustworthy prosecutor since his introduction and stayed like that. Some other characters developed to be better for the courtroom, but Gavin always stayed true to finding the truth. He never cared about if he would win or lose. Gavin wanted proper justice to be delivered no matter what. I also do like his rocker personality as well. He is smooth with the ladies and can be quite mean spirited with some guys, but in the end, he is pretty much always helping. Klaiver had his share of jokes and jabs at Apollo and he would also tell Apollo when something is not feeling right. This guy even held trials on longer even if he was going to win. This is why I truly appreciate this man and I do hope I get to face him in court again. Also, playing air guitar in the middle of a trial never gets old! Even this guy has an awesome theme song!

3. Phoenix Wright

The main character himself lands at the third spot and again like Gavin he is a good to honest man who does get into some trouble here and there, but in the end, he delivers the truth. Now Phoenix did have his hands tied back sometimes, but this is what then makes him a scary attorney at times. Even if he knows someone could be guilty, Phoenix knows how to hold a trial on for longer. Phoenix also knows how to bluff big time! Phoenix does this so that trials can last longer or even move to the next day so that he can find more information. Phoenix always believes in his clients and that has been put to the test before. This man has taken on a lot in his career and even when he lost his badge, Phoenix continued to fight in his own ways. When he returned in Dual Destinies there was one thing clear about Phoenix Wright, he did not lose any of his wits. What also makes Phoenix an awesome guy is how caring he is. Phoenix would always extend his hand out to others even outside of the courtroom. My favorite becoming an adoptive father to Trucy since her father ran away in the middle of a trial. Phoenix even takes on the possibility of a death penalty just to defend someone in court. Then his relationship with Mia, Maya, and Pearl is extremely heartwarming. Then there is a certain rivalry with someone, but I will get to that later. I also love how snarky Phoenix can get. In the first three games, he keeps most of his snarky attitude to himself. In Apollo's game and after that, he speaks his mind out more than often. Phoenix Wright, a caring man who will never want to fight in the courtroom since he will always make a trial interesting.

2. Apollo Justice

To be honest, Apollo is only this high up because of the recent game for the franchise. If I ranked him just based on Dual Destinies, he would be right in the middle. Apollo's first appearance gave him a good start. He was young and still fresh to the business. He needed help just like Phoenix did in his beginnings. His interactions with characters like Trucy and Ema Skye were delightful. I even loved his working relationship with Klaiver. Dual Destinies comes along and wow Apollo changed a lot! He suddenly starts to become a role model for someone and even risks his life to protect that said person. Apollo even looked badass with his injuries and carrying the jacket of his best friend. In Dual Destinies, he lost that person and when suspicion started to fall on Athena, he did have his doubts about her. Apollo trusted Athena still though and that is why he had to clear his doubts away by finding the truth. Apollo really risked a lot on that since he was unsure if Athena was a killer or not, yet he in the end he wanted to believe that she was innocent. Then Spirit of Justice came around and this is why he got into the second spot so fast. Apollo had to take on a lot in this game. There was first defending Trucy in court which is my personal favorite case in the series. Apollo being a big part since he helped Trucy keep her smile and also having her finally being able to open up around him. Apollo even made Trucy more confident in herself as a magician. He had to take on his brother in court even if he was adopted into that family. His adoptive father returns for his aide and even when things turned bleak for Apollo like taking on Phoenix and taking on the queens of Khura'in, he did not hold back at all. There was even a time where Apollo hoped he was wrong because of what the shocking truth of what happened to both of his fathers. Apollo really matured in his ventures of being a lawyer and you know it is impressive when a man takes down a whole legal system in one trial!

1. Miles Edgeworth

I know many people love this character to death and I am so one of them! Edgeworth is so my type of character. In the first game, he is the prosecutor with rumors flying around that he forged evidence because of his teacher, Von Karma taught him that he always had to get perfect victories. Egdeworth wanted to convict criminals no matter what because of what happened to his father and the supposed man who murdered him. Edgeworth had no trust towards criminals and made sure they get what they deserved. It was thanks to Phoenix that he cleared things up for Edgeworth. Edgeworth started to fight for the truth and even helped Phoenix in his third case. Then he soon became under the suspicion of murder as Phoenix defended him against Von Karma. Edgeworth though was blaming himself for the murder of his father and when he was declared innocent for the current case, he brings up the DL-6 incident since he wants the truth to be finally be out for that case even if it means if he was guilty. Later on, things get worse for Edgeworth as he soon as to prosecute a close friend of his, Lana Skye and he even finds out at the start of his career he did use forged evidence, but to not to his knowledge. This took a major blow to Edgeworth as he had to find out what it truly meant to be a prosecutor. He comes back wiser and learns that he had to aim for the truth even if the truth can hurt at times. Edgeworth even had his own games and it was awesome to see Edgeworth be the main character for once. Again, this is after the original trilogy so Edgeworth has learned a lot and he becomes a surprisingly caring person. When on the job he will find the true murderer even if it means taking on a leader of an entire country! Then he soon makes his return in Dual Destinies and then appears for the bonus case in Spirit of Justice and Edgeworth has become Chief Prosecutor! He still had to take on cases though, one being because of a hostage situation and the other because the other prosecutors were too scared to take on the case. Again, Edgeworth is a man about the truth and he can be a bit blunt about it. Edgeworth is also shockingly oblivious to certain things and will be strict on the simplest of manners. Personally, I share that with him in some regards. The other big reason why he is on this list if that this guy had to deal with Wendy Oldbag trying to win his heart, any man who has to deal with that woman needs all the help he can get!

 Just look at this man, both men and women just melt around him!

I am so not done with making list for this franchise as there are still minor characters to get through and what I feel are the best cases for the franchise. There are still tons to talk about with Ace Attorney as I will always be ready to scream "Objection" when the time is right.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney First Turnabout Review: Mr Did It! (Spoiler Alert)

I will admit this, I found a new series that I am just going crazy for right now. I started playing the Ace Attorney series last month and I have already made a huge jump on that. I got through the first three games and the spin off title with Miles Edgeworth and as of right now almost done with Apollo Justice. Now while I could review the whole games in one go, I feel like that will not do my new obsession justice. So for the time being I am going to review all separate episodes from all the games. I feel like observing and talking about each episode of the series will really help paint out what the games are doing. They are clever with tons of charm and the very first case does a great job of highlighting that. So get ready to slam some desks, it is time to review the Ace Attorney series!

I guess I should put this here... all of these reviews will have SPOILERS!

For the first case of the franchise we deal with Phoenix's friend, Larry Butz. Already you can tell the names of the many characters will be full of puns. To start it off is Larry Butz which is dead obvious and this will not be the only time we shall meet him. So what has happened to poor Larry? He is on trial for being the suspect of murdering his girlfriend Cindy Stone. Larry is a defense attorney's worst nightmare as Larry is screaming it is all over and that he will just turn himself in. This guy is just trouble in one package as there is a saying for this guy, "If something smells it is usually the Butz." Now since this is Phoenix's first trial, his mentor, Mia Fey is here to help him. Phoenix took this case because of his friend and even though Larry is essentially screaming his is guilty, Phoenix knows he is innocent,,, or at least until he starts to get tricked. I loved how Wright started out, he is a bit dumb and just starts to buy any story he hears, but luckily Mia is around to smack some sense into him.

The first ever prosecutor Phoenix has to tango with is Winston Payne who is known as the rookie killer or at least he was. Payne already starts out playing hardball by getting Larry to burst out. He display the facts that Larry's girlfriend was actually not that loyal to him and to be frank they have already split up, even though Larry is in denial. Cindy has been known to have some sugar daddies and Larry was not happy hearing about this and even says the next time he sees her he is going to make sure to he finds everything out while yelling, just great. Then Payne brings his eye witness to the stand, Frank Sahwit and if you have played the game already or at least seen the first episode to the anime, we already know that this is the true culprit. So with that knowledge that he is the killer, it is up to the player to direct Phoenix to making sure this man is arrested. At first though he buys his story about seeing the body, way to go Phoenix!

 Thanks to Mia who gets Phoenix into cross-examining the witness, we find out a flaw in his testimony. This is the meat of the game, looking at the statements of the witnesses and seeing if we can break them down or simply add more information to them. Frank says he say the body at 1 PM and that is already a lie! The time of death was 4 PM and presenting this information gets Frank to think of more lies. Again thanks to how we already know this guy is a criminal gets you thinking of how to break his case. Then if you get one lie, the lies will keep coming. To prevent getting caught, Payne tells the court that he heard a television say the time which is why he thought it was 1 PM, but again this is not possible again. There was a power out during the time of the murder so there is no way he could hear any television! Frank now says that a clock told him the time and it was right on the table, but there was no clock! There only thing on the table was the murder weapon itself, the statue of The Thinker! This little statue will be a major player for another case which I am surprised how much this was used in the story. Catching someone's lies is extremely fun at this point because you just keep breaking someone down and just waiting for him to commit his crime, but everyone is so stubborn in this series!

For once Payne himself actually says something that actually helps him at this point and reveals the statue is actually a clock. When the head is turned, it will tell the time. So this is actually a clock and who made it you ask? Larry Butz of course! Still there is one big problem with this knowledge. First the clock itself was three hours slow and how could Frank know it was a clock. This is when you start dealing the big blows to his testimony and start fully accusing Frank as the murderer! The only way one can know it was a clock was to use it, which means Frank was in the apartment. Then with the time being three hours slow, Frank must have heard the clock when he used it as a weapon which left an impression to the murderer. With those blows Frank loses it and throws his toupee at Phoenix and starts screaming about this accusations. Frank saves himself though by saying there is no proof that the clock was behind three hours on the day of the murder and with that, Phoenix case is broken, or is it? The final showdown now occurs as Phoenix finds evidence that the clock was actually ahead and not backwards, why because of Cindy Stone being a traveler! Cindy was in Paris and had the clock with her during her travels which means the time zones were different. The clock was actually nine hours ahead and she did not adjust it when she got back and by presenting her passport, it reveals everything! Frank starts to foam from the mouth, passes out, and is quickly arrested.

 To end things off, Larry is still sad by all that has been revealed. Larry's poor heart is broken, but thanks to Phoenix presenting the clock to him it does actually shed some light. Cindy must have thought Larry was someone at the least because she carried around this big clock around with her. With that Larry feels a bit happier and already hits on Mia (oh Larry!). Larry even gives her a present which was another Thinker clock that he had made. With all done, Mia starts to wonder about Phoenix's past with Larry since Phoenix has said because of Larry and another friend of his, he owed them for helping him out and it was what soon had him thinking of taking this career path. Phoenix does not to get to tell the story yet and will he ever get that chance to begin with?

Even if the first case is extremely easy compared to everything else the series will throw at you, this is still an extremely fun case. It plays with the basics extremely well to get anyone the feeling of how things will go done, Usually if someone is on trial there will be hidden information and if you are defending someone, you should be defending them. Having Larry be the first one to defend is fun and annoying at the same time. Larry has some great funny lines, but imagine being his defense attorney, that would be a nightmare to deal with. Then there is already good amount of humor being thrown around, like the toupee for example. Then the heart racing feeling of catching a criminal along, just makes you want to scream "Objection!" There are even some great lines like "Well Mr Sahwit, or should I say Mr Did It!" I will say the only flaw would be how the prosecution did not even stand a chance, Payne is weak compared to anyone else you will face, but that he is why he is tutorial case material. Overall it is a fun first case that gets the huge fundamental of objecting presented and shows of these trials will be going from here on so it gets an A.

Next Time: Husbando Alert!

My Top 10 Favorite Games of 2015

I will say for gaming, even though this was a pretty good year, I still personally loved last year better. There was just more for me that year since Bayonetta 2 and Smash 4 came out which have became some of my favorite games in general. This clearly was the year that indie developers got to shine again as there were some big deals going on with Shovel Knight since he got an Amiibo which was a surprise. For once it did feel like some indie developers were dancing with the bigger and way more established companies. Now I will be saying this, I do know have a Playstation 4 and I never have gone Microsoft, so there are things I’m going to miss. Either way, I still have plenty of games to play since the Playstation 3 is easily not done yet and Nintendo always knows how to make me happy in many ways.

Honorable Mentions

Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition

As I said before, I did get to miss out on some titles. I still did not get to play this game personally yet, but come on this is first time we got the real Devil May Cry back since the original 4, that was 2008! So seeing Capcom care about the original and clearly better Devil May Cry was a big thing for me. Where I thought Bayonetta would be the only real continuation for Devil May Cry action, Capcom re-releases Devil May Cry 4 with ten times more content. There are more challenge modes and the best parts comes with three new playable characters marking the first time Lady has been playable in the series. Then there is Trish, who is fine, but Vergil is back… somehow, but who cares its Vergil! I do know my brother has a Playstation 4, but it just feels weird just showing up at his place just for that game, but a good friend of mine is getting one as well and he is one of my recording partners… hmmm.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3D

For those who do not know, Xenoblade Chronicles is what I feel is the best RPG around. It takes ideas of the new, old, and even its own to create a blend of perfect ideas. The action/turn-based combat was genius and with moves having special properties and abilities, it made the fights fast paced and kept you thinking. Now if you told me this was going to be on a handheld system, I would say no way. At the time the normal Nintendo 3DS is about a bit stronger than a Gamecube I would say. Now with the New Nintendo 3DS we got something more on a Wii powered system, but not still quite there yet. This is why Xenoblade Chronicles 3D was a big surprise because this game already used most of the Wii’s CPU and again people bog the game down because it could have been on other systems. Personally I feel this was made more of the game’s original image and just having the better CPU could have toned that down a bit. Still porting Xenoblade to a handheld was no easy task and it is amazing how it was done. Now the character models got a bit bleaker. The game still runs the same though and the environment look as lovely as the Wii game and add that little 3D it actually helped out some of the visuals. So overall this was a well done port to a handheld system as I am happy that something like Xenoblade got to get another chance to be released.

Tales of Zestiria

Now this could have been number ten because I simply do love the Tales series in general. Xillia 1 and 2 were some of my favorites and I could was on par with my absolute favorite, Symphonia. So when Zesteria was coming out, I was actually a bit disappointed. Now I still do enjoy the game, but the reason why it is not on the list is because of how it is in the end. The story is a tad bit off with characters just kind of flying around as this sort of reminds me of Symphonia Dawn of the New World where characters in your party would just leave. Now there are times where it was done well, but there were points that I felt ripped off. I can say the story of this one did bog down the game a bit because of what it establishes with humans and these spirit like beings. Also for the most part the game feels too easy! I give credit that the new mechanics are fun and it does help some of the exploration which Xillia could have had, but the fights felt like nothing at times. I do like a bit of difficulty with my games and mastering RPG’s or even action games feel satisfying. Zesteria is still a fun game and I still wanted to talk about it, but it seems a step backwards for where the franchise is going. At the least I can say there are still technical achievements with this game and how fluid transitions can be and how many models the game can run at the same time. So maybe for the next game is can follow more of Xillia, but keep the achievements Zesteria had.

10. Blazblue Chrono Phantasma Extend

Now onto the top ten list itself and I know this is simply an extension of an existing game, but the thing is that is great for fighting games. Blazblue and Guilty Gear get extensions just like Street Fighter does, but the content that is added really helps justify why this is a new release. For Blazblue they added many more story scenarios and two more fighters one being new and the return of a veteran. There are even great character changes like Makoto got the really great buffs so I’m happy to see her finally have a better chance against top tier characters. Then the added gag endings were fantastic as the previous version really did not have as much as the series previously had before. This still doesn’t reach that similar number, but the new gag endings were all fun. There was even another gag ending on the Vita version as well. So it may just be an extension, but it is a great one still and I cannot wait for Guilty Gear Xrd Revelator.

9. Codename Steam

Codename Steam pretty much continues an idea that Valkyria Chronicles had with real time and turned based strategy mechanics. Now the good news is that Valkyria is continuing, but for the time being I thought it was dead. Codename Steam finally gave me a proper Valkyria game on a handheld system because personally I only loved the first one which was on the Playstation 3. The other two were PSP games and they fell flat compared to the console version in my opinion of course. What Codename Steam does right is that there are many unique characters to use and all have their own special abilities that can help in the battlefield. You can even go back to previous maps and play them with different units because each map has tons of collectibles and getting them can be hard while you are trying to get the best score as well. So having new allies to help out with that ordeal does help the game with how long you can play it for. The overall theme and tone was really out there and it felt fresh compared to other games that can fall in the similar category like XCOM. The game even knows when to bring in new and awesome moments like the time President Lincoln brings his giant mecha to the fight. Overall it was a fun and unique title that I hope can be worked with again to tweak out some of the issues.

8. Undertale

I bet everyone is going to be talking about this game as even I am. For the most part I tend to stay away from the PC gaming, but I got a bit more into it this year. Undertale got my interest because of the overall tone it had. This felt like Mother (Earthbound) and there hasn’t been any new one since Mother 3, which we still cannot get, legally. So Undertale continuing that legacy of unique RPG’s is something pretty important and it knew how to make itself stand out. First off, I love the combat system and by that I mean the “do not fight” combat system. You are dodging attacks and many attacks have different properties so the game makes sure to keep throwing new things at you. Then the overall story is quite funny and touching at the same time. Now I’m not going to talk about the game being a bit open about certain topics because that is not I want to focus on. The game simply keeps an open and yet silly story that can easily drag anyone into its world. Then there are many secrets to find and having optional endings is also a nice touch. Undertale is different and even though it easily takes inspiration from the Mother series, it clearly establishes its own image.

7. Huniepop

Now here is the other PC game I got to this year. At first I simply watched people played it because a girl like Luchajin makes the best commentary for a game like this. Now I have to make this statement here, this is not a game for everyone. First off, it is M-rated and you can even get uncensored versions for it, so it does get to an A rating which does not even exist anymore. So yes the game can be quite pornographic and people bash on it for some misogyny. The thing is that, the game knows it. The game creates a feeling of self parody to itself and sometimes the dating world is full of that, people who just want to get some action. This thing does happen and with the game itself knowing that quite well, it makes some really funny moments and really lets the characters feel as loose as possible. The in game characters do not feel generic even if they play around with stereotypes, they all got something special about them and it really does make its own impact. Also to give credit the puzzle game itself is interesting and with what it adds, it is pretty much a great new edition of Bejeweled. This was simply a fun and silly game and man it was interesting to show to other people because of what reactions can occur from it. For the most part I always have people laughing along with me.

6. Splatoon 

Now onto to even more porn we got squid boys and girls spraying ink everywhere… I mean this is Splatoon a brand new IP from Nintendo that takes on the multiplayer shooter genre. I can easily say people were impressed by it since critics are calling it the best shooter of this year and one of the most unique ones in a long time. My experience with shooters is not the best, but I do remember the early days of Quake, Doom, and even Goldeneye 64. I can say Splatoon really brought back that special love I had for shooters in the past. Sure it is not gory as the others I mentioned, but it reminded me of why I loved shooters back then, they were doing something brand new. That is the thing when some shooters were beginning; they had to make sure to stand out. Splatoon simply takes that image in a more kid friendly area and add in many cool mechanics and a great online connection. For the most part whenever I played the game, the online worked perfectly and I had many great matches. Teamwork is key and being able to have different weapons does give tons of room for new things to happen. Now it does suck you cannot have parties or anything like that so you can keep playing with the same people, but I do love how things keep getting switched up meaning you have to adapt to what you got. The the single player campaign may have been easy, but the level and boss designs were fantastic for showing what the game can do with its mechanics. I can easily see Splatoon becoming a much bigger IP in the future, especially if sequels get made.

5. Yoshi's Woolly World

Another game that is a bit on the easier side, but again this is where level designs just work so perfectly. This new Yoshi game crammed in many things that made previous Yoshi games good and added in some stuff from Epic Yarn to make Yoshi Wolly World. Many levels had something new to them and it was fun figuring out what to do by simply playing the game and not having the game force feed you. The best example would have to be the Chain Chomps in this game. They are yarn monsters that you can trap by using yarn balls and use them as wrecking balls. The thing is that you can let them free whenever you want and they will follow you. This just made many levels open up with what you can do and there are many more examples of how the game works like that. Also the game is simply a great time for just relaxing and enjoying the cuteness that are Yarn Yoshis. Each one is way too cute and being able to play as many as like 50 or more just makes picking your favorite Yoshi so hard to do. Even the boss fights had some fun little puzzling things about them so overall the game is the perfect example of learning new mechanics and having a blast with it.

4. Under Night In-Birth Exe Late

When I first heard of Under Night I was not expecting much because the two main characters looked generic and not that special. Then I got to see more of the characters and I was sold when I kept seeing more of the game itself. The mechanics in this game are fast, fluid, and easy to pick up. I will say it combines the great beginner feeling from the Persona fighting games, but mastering it felt like Guilty Gear levels of difficulty. There are many moves which can be evolved into special moves, so remembering special moves is easy since they are extensions of motions to do the normal variations of them. Then there is the system where you can perfectly cancel your frames and move onto more attacks to finish combos off with. Even when you activate it then it can create more damage for those attacks. The EXE bar is interesting because you fight to get the more energy from your foe. It can be done by who is clearly winning or by how you move on the stage. There is then your usual energy bar, but you can combine that with the EXE bar to unleash much stronger attacks that follow the same motions for every character so again remembering moves is not hard if you want to change characters. I am happy to see this game even getting published under an official company and it is even getting a sequel so I hope the best for this new fighting game franchise.

3. Transformers Devastation

For a long period of time I have been waiting for an awesome Transformers game. Personally I am only okay with previous games like the 3^rd person shooter games. When I heard Platinum of all companies was making a Transformers game I was ecstatic. Now the game is short even for a usual Platinum game, but man the content in the fighting engine was amazing. It combines the best of Bayonetta and Metal Gear Rising and even adds new things that I hope Platinum can add to their franchises. You get to choose between five playable characters as each one is unique in how they fight. This is also based on generation one Transformers which is my favorite era of the franchise. We even get to see the old designs again as I love them! Even the characters we get to see in this game were most of my favorites like, Wheeljack, Grimlock, Optimus, Megatron, and Soundwave. Now you only play as Autobots which I hope there will be a time I can play as Megatron, but overall the five playable characters had enough already to satisfy me. The boss fights were intense as I got to finally have the fights I always wanted against Devastator and they made an awesome fight for Soundwave, Shockwave, and Megatron. The weapons customizing and changing was the best part of the game because you can really change up the variety with these different types of weapons. They even have shooting mechanics which remind me of Vanquish with fast and fluid shooting.  Again it may have been short, but I can easily keep playing it over and over again because this is what my childhood has been waiting for!

2. Super Mario Maker

The Mario franchise is the single most important thing in all of gaming. When the series started on the NES, it saved gaming in general. Now we can finally celebrate the 30^th anniversary where people can create their own Mario levels. Now I am not the best creator as most of those types of games do not get my interest. Mario Maker though really shows how easy it is to make levels even if they are short you can still make some magic with that. Even if you are not that great at creating you can still experience the game thanks to people being able to upload their levels online. Everyone is making amazing levels and experimenting with many new things. The game is even adding more content which means the lifetime for this game is going to be longer than Splatoon. The game even adds some nice touches of Amiibo costumes and sample courses so you can get the feel of the game and soon add your own special touches to some. The level of freedom with this game is large and I cannot wait to see what more awaits the many creators making levels right now.

1. Xenoblade Chronicles X

Now everything comes back to Xenoblade. As I have said before Xenoblade Chronicles on the Wii is my all time favorite RPG. The spiritual sequel for this game finally came out and I have been waiting for this longer than Bayonetta 2 and Smash 4. Now I can say it will not top the original Xenoblade, but it does hold a lot of great content since this is my number one here for this year. The combat system is completely upgraded and the AI for both allies and foes will keep you on your toes. Allies can help you with recommending moves that can topple foes and leave then wide open. They can even just work with other allies in your party, so not everything is tied upon you. The freedom of class changing is great as you can go to any class on the tree and switch at any time. This then opens up what moves you can have, but thanks to certain missions you can have certain skills be attached to certain weapons types. Personally I love the Raygun classes because I can be a hard hitter with my big blasters, but also be a great support unit thanks to having a knife and keeping some great healing moves. Then there are the mechs in the games called Skells and this just opens the combat up even more and it helps with exploration. By the way the exploration is as open as the first Xenoblade and exploring is way more rewarding thanks to setting probes. You can get money and another type of currency which helps out shops so you can get better gear that way. There are many story missions, affinity missions, normal missions, and even basic missions where you do many task. Now I will say getting stuck in story and affinity missions do stink a bit which can force who is in your party, but the game does warn you about that. This is still a pretty hard RPG to master, but picking it up and having fun is easier than the original. I can definitely say that I’m really feeling it!

Next year I know my big games will be Fire Emblem Fates, SMT X FE, and Mario and Luigi Paper Jam since I love Intelligent Systems and knowing I am getting four of their games for 2016 really makes me happy. Persona 5 will be coming out which is going to be a big deal for many people including myself. Some other ones would be Star Fox Zero and the new Metroid Prime game. Also the final Smash DLC will be out then and I know I’m going to try hard to be a great Bayonetta player! Guilty Gear gets a new version of its game as I really want to play as Jack-O the most. Then I am really interested in what Zelda Wii U will have to offer along with the official announcement of the NX.

Satoru Iwata... Thank You

Well it seems that a dark and gloomy cloud has covered the gaming media since one of the icons has sadly passed away. This is something I simply was not expecting and being a Nintendo fan ever since I was a child, really makes this death hurt a bit. I will admit when I started gaming as a young silly boy who constantly played Pokemon on his old Game Boy, I just saw it as a simple way to pass time. It was around the time of the Gamecube though I got really interested in getting way more games and really getting good. Still the Nintendo 64 is close to my heart as well since it holds many great titles and I have been looking back at classic NES or SNES games I missed out on when I was young. One thing for sure is that Iwata was a hard worker and one of the best at his craft. In days of working with Nintendo through Hal Laboratory, he did so much for my childhood. Iwata helped with the Kirby series which is my favorite of all the Nintendo franchises and even when he was president was still making some impacts for that series. When I started to pay more attention and hearing one of the guys who worked on the Kirby series was in charge of Nintendo, that got me way more pumped for the Gamecube when it was being announced. This is one of the big reasons why I put so much faith in Nintendo, because their craft never failed in my opinion. Sure there could be a bad game or so around, but that always happens. Still the Nintendo shine always came off of them even if the game was not the best. Iwata even worked on Mother 2 aka Earthbound and he built that from the ground up, that is impressive and going through that game right now that charm fits right at home for me. Iwata even managed to create the second generation of Pokemon and pretty much made Pokemon times two! He found a way to cram both the old and the new into one game and this was still on the Game Boy! Iwata even got Smash Bros to be where it was now because he gave Sakurai that nudge to finish the project. When I first heard the news and found out it was real, I paused for a moment and looked for my Kirby games because those always got me in a good mood. There was never any moment where I felt sad while playing Kirby and in the end that is what Iwata brought to gaming. He brought much joy to many games. Iwata did a great job with being the big time producer as his run of being in charge will never be over looked. Iwata did so much for my gaming childhood and he still did so much for the man I am now. Iwata is the one who gave many games the special touch that made them so great and seeing how he started with games such like Balloon Fight and ended things with producing Fire Emblem Awakening, all I can say is thank you Iwata. Because of you I got to enjoy hundreds of games and I will always remember you whenever I see Kirby smile.

No More Heroes: A Look Into Violent Media Finale

This is the final stretch for my analysis of No More Heroes as we will be going through some of the best bosses in the game. Then we will look into Travis Touchdown himself, his story, and what all of this is trying to tell the audience. In the last part the game was really being obvious about its theme thanks to Holly Summers and Harvey then the game continues on with being obvious, but first we got to finally look into the main character himself, Travis Touchdown!

Travis Touchdown is one of my favorite characters in gaming and when I finally found out what he is clearly based on it makes him even grander. Now as we know about Travis as of now is that he is in the fights because he was low on money, he wants the thrill of the fight, and he wants to fight someone better than him. Travis is clearly just being an assassin for the fun of it just like the many other bosses. Now since the many bosses show themes from violent media, what does Travis show? The main character himself is showing off all the bad elements of the gamer. This can be seen when you play the game as Travis sees everything as a game, literally. There are sprites all around the screen as he completely slashes people up. There is even a nice touch with how he kills his foes it’s a mixture of the blood showers and money showers as this covers both types of video game violence. There is cartoony violence like how Mario collects coins and stomping on foes while we could have something like heavily violent games making complete messes of gore. Then how Travis even acts is just for the fun of it since he is a gamer, there is a scoreboard at the end of every boss fight! Everything Travis is going through is just for his personal pleasure and that can even be seen with his Beam Katana. Travis literally has to charge it up by doing a stroking motion and there are many times that his weapon represents his… well you can get the idea. So when one does this stroking motion for something else it’s clearly for pleasure and Travis having to do with during fights just clearly shows he is fighting for pleasure, sounds familiar doesn’t it?

Many bosses in the game are all in for the pleasure of fighting as Travis shares this with them, but could there be more than that? With Death Metal, Travis actually saw himself in the rich man and wanted to be him. While at this time Death Metal is saying to stop fighting since there is no point in fighting and he begins lying to himself right before he kills Death Metal. Travis says all he wants is to be number one when right after he is talking about how he didn’t feel good in the end and there is many times where he says he wants a better fight. With Dr. Peace it is clearly showing regret of being in the fights and how lonely one can be is they become too blood thirsty and Travis lives by himself and is not improving his life at all, he is just fighting for no real purpose. With Shinobu she is showing how blood thirsty she is and while at the same time Travis doesn’t realize he is like her as well. Both her and Travis are affected by what they watch and are clearly just imitating what they love in the media. Then I do love how the game teases that Travis does have mercy, but in the end he shows how much he wants a grand fight since he wants Shinobu to live for the sole fact of her getting better. Destroyman with his split personalities and his superhero personification shows that he never has to question his morality. Travis shares this as well since there are moments he is lying to himself and never questions what he is doing. Holly Summers did more than be a theme or a parallel to Travis, but actually teach him something that some violence lovers need. Harvey then is pretty much just showing off the main theme of the game and Speed Buster is clearly hinting at a theme that will come back. Now the ranked two assassin is the best parallel for Travis though as I can finally get to her!

The ranked two assassin known as Bad Girl is clearly the best character to represent what Travis really is. As I said before, Travis is just in to get his jollies off. So the best way to show this is a boss that clearly represents a dominatrix. It’s pretty obvious since the first thing you will see is Bad Girl bashing gimps with her baseball bat. So there are sexual fantasies with violence and again what is a better way to show this than a girl like Bad Girl. What’s even better is that Travis is still blind to who he is as he sees Bad Girl nothing more than a perverted maniac. I just find this hilarious since this is the man who strokes his Beam Katana in combat! The best part is that when Travis calls her a pervert and not an assassin she goes and says that they are the same. Bad Girl then goes on about how Travis is not better than her in anyway and to her this is a job, the daily grind. So with Bad Girl she is getting some sexual kicks from fighting, but the difference is that she is clearly honest with herself unlike Travis. Then to end things, she has the best death in the game. Travis stabs her through the stomach, but she doesn’t give up and still continues to bash Travis. She then falls on Travis and the position she is in is rather sexual. Now what doesn’t make this sexual is all the blood everywhere, she was beating up Travis, and the fact that she is dead. This just points to the question about violence and why it is fantasized even in sexual context. This game really does cover mostly everything that is violent while there are some things that are ignored, but luckily the sequel does use them so pretty much all violent media does get covered in the No More Heroes franchise.

We have reached the end of the road now as Travis is ready to become number one, unlike previous times he decides to call the woman who has been giving him the fights. What ends up happening is that he learns he has been had. Sylvia Christel the woman who has been teasing him the whole entire game ends up being a con artist, what a surprise! Travis talks with Sylvia’s mothers and learns about her and what she has been doing. So in the end this is all... wait for it… pointless! Everything Travis has been doing ends up being pointless and again is any of this really helping Travis? Like with Dr. Peace his life was ruined because of fighting and Travis is not improving his life as well. He still lives by himself, keeps renting videos and never returning them, and still keeps up with his obsession of his anime show, Bizarre Jelly. Since Travis is number two though, he is told that he should just go on with it. Even though there is no point, Travis already got too far into this situation so why not continue? So what is left for Travis well it’s a Darth Vader rip off who makes Travis remember the real reason why he got into the fights and then the man gets killed! We get another fight interrupted as we meet Jeane.

Jeane is someone Travis knew dearly from his past and you will mostly know this from getting bonus material or slowing down a certain scene. The story behind Jeane is that she killed Travis’ parents and burned down his old home. Travis ends up drinking his sorrows away and talks about it to Sylvia as she ends up making this con just so that Travis can fight Jeane. Now this is where the story gets to nonsense since Jeane’s back story is skipped, literally! There is more fourth wall breaking here as well the conversation literally talks about the age rating of the game. Again this is when the game gets the most obvious about its message about violence and they are going over game ratings which have been a part of many controversies in the past and still exist this day. Well going on with the story we find out that Travis wanted revenge on Jeane for killing his parents as we get a vengeance plot here, which was hinted with Speed Buster. Travis even feels pity for Jeane as she is a tortured soul and you can tell even without hearing her back story. To quickly summarize things up for Jeane’s story it ends up Travis’ father wasn’t all that good of a man to his first family… So in the end Jeane actually did change her life in a violent manner as she got free from her terrible father, but it’s still violence in the end. Travis even says the line, “Vengeance begets vengeance.” So even though Travis does agree with Jeane he has to kill her for the sake of vengeance and does really adding another body on the pile do something? As I mentioned before the story really got out of hand here, but for the right purpose. Travis finding out that he was tricked and having to kill his step-sister and former lover and all he gets is self gratification and nothing else changes, he’s not a hero and is still a loser.

The last part of the game is then the most nonsense you can ever see in a video game. If you got all the Beam Katanas you can get one more boss fight and that is facing Henry the man who took the ranked fifth assassin’s life. High chance this was to leave the game on an extremely high point, but there is still more to get from this moment. When you win the fight, Henry reveals a lot of twists at the last moment and again the fourth wall gets shattered once more. We find out that Henry is Travis’ brother and is even married to Sylvia. After all of that the two engage in one final blow to each other as a Rocky styled painting is shown for their final moment, even though there was a sequel! Again originally Suda 51 meant for No More Heroes to be a one off game so having the two kill each other in the end of the first game just shows the pointless violence angle. Also with Henry and Travis being brothers is a popular concept in violent media like with Dante and Vergil. So that was one hell of a ride, but what was No More Heroes trying to say in the end?

Before getting to the end of this essay, I want to add something that is important to this whole analysis and that would be the original ending of No More Heroes. There was an ending before the final product and it really proves this theory about No More Heroes. It seems that everything Travis did would have been for nothing literally because after fighting Jeane he is gunned down. The person who shoots Travis is no other than Slyvia the woman who tricked Travis. First, this really opens Slyvia’s character a bit more because during an interview one of the designers has talked about Slyvia. “Sylvia knows she’s sexy and she uses it as a weapon. She was an easy character to model because her personality was so strong. It wasn’t my intention when I made her, but early in development someone commented that she reminded them of Scarlett Johansson.” Slyvia easily uses her sex appeal for her own use which is something Jeane actually did as well. This woman is like Jeane, but her ends are far worse in a morale sense compared to Jeane actually wanting to improve her life. Slyvia is simply getting more money and then getting rid of someone who learned her tricks. This to me really opens the message of No More Heroes because one should never get too carried away with pleasures, especially violent pleasures.

No More Heroes really takes a satirical look into violence with showing how people can become violent, but at the same time it’s not saying it’s a bad thing. First of all the game itself is violent and still delivers a fun experience with that violence. Personally, I feel that No More Heroes is giving the players something to think about and while not delivering a concrete message it really does show how violent characters cannot exist in a real life situation. Suda 51 is just giving the players some food for thought so that they can realize how much violence is around in the world and giving off some little messages here and there. Some little messages would easily be about death and how pointless violence can be at times. Now Suda 51 is not saying violence is bad it can be enjoyable, but one should probably never try applying it to real life. Also any person shouldn’t let it control them or go to crazy with useless pleasures. A person’s life to full of many trials and while these little pleasures can help us relief some stress, we shouldn’t let it control us as well. Overall, players do need some food for thought at times and having a piece of fiction just getting one to think about is much better than trying to actually give an answer because then it would look pretentious and be ignored. Luckily, No More Heroes has a lot to make sure that it isn’t ignored as I highly recommend gamers to play this or even watch the cut scenes at the least, maybe if there was a No More Heroes series or movie that would just be excellent! So leave your thoughts in the comments it could be about the game itself or just some of your personal thoughts on violent media since one should keep thinking about the entertainment they watch or play.